Chinese Manager Killed at Zambian Mine

Scores of irate coal miners on Saturday attacked their supervisors after complaining that their employer had failed to pay them the recently revised minimum wage. Wu Shengzai, 50 years old, was killed after he was hit with a mining trolley truck pushed by rioting miners.

Two other injured Chinese managers at Collum, located 200 miles south of the Zambian capital of Lusaka, were airlifted Sunday for treatment in Lusaka, according to Rayford Mbulu, Zambia’s deputy labor minister. Mr. Mblulu said Zambia’s minister of labor, Fackson Shamenda, had traveled to the mine site on Sunday with a team of investigators to establish what exactly happened. Details of the investigation haven’t been released.

“Sata wants to re-position Zambia towards the west, but has had to moderate his stance because China is so important to Zambia in terms of trade and investment. He appears very conscious of the need to be diplomatic – his first visitor after the election was the Chinese ambassador.”

“The law does not cover for those who are represented by the trade unions but, in the same law, it indicates that when unions are negotiating with their employers, they should bear in mind that they should not negotiate below what is the minimum wage. So, these people want to take advantage of that, and that’s how they caused this problem at the mine,” he said.